Numbers public. Gate honest.
Receipts, not vibes
The loop numbers stay visible all season — real Milwaukee only, the house doesn’t count itself. If the gate doesn’t clear, we say so out loud and fix what the room told us to fix.
Presented by GM! Carl Studios · September – November 2026 · Milwaukee
Season 0 is a bet, made in the open.
The bet: prove the loop. People tune in, collect by showing up, and come back. GM Spaces gives you credit for being places — every point with a receipt — and if Milwaukee’s room holds that loop for a season, Season 1 gets built. Three checkpoints. One build challenge. The numbers stay public the whole way.
The Season 0 experience lives at Haven Cafe — all three events, one roof. Drink partner: OnlyLemon.
Three checkpoints, one journey
September
☕ Coffee with Carl
Find the opportunity.
The season opens with conversation. Join at the door (about twelve seconds), meet builders and neighborhood people worth knowing, and pin your idea to the “What Should We Build?” wall — real drops at the venue that outlive the night. The challenge, the prizes, and the timeline get announced from the floor.
Haven Cafe, Milwaukee · date announced here + in the app registration drops soon · watch the map →
October
🍸 Cocktails with Carl
Find the people.
Builders meet collaborators, mentors, and Milwaukee business owners. Selected builders get 90 seconds — what they’re making, what they need. Drink partner OnlyLemon’s perk is a promo drop you redeem in the app, live: the product demos itself.
Haven Cafe, Milwaukee · date announced here + in the app registration drops soon · watch the map →
November
💻 Coding with Carl
Build + show the work.
Two lanes — a Sprint for anyone starting that day, the Finish Line for teams polishing a season of work — and two tracks: GM Spaces builds and bring-your-own. Then Demo Day, where the community’s votes in the app crown each track’s winner. The field manual has the full spec.
Haven Cafe, Milwaukee · date announced here + in the app registration drops soon · watch the map →Every event is a drop on the map with its own registration link — the app is the flyer, the door scan is the check-in. Walk in at each checkpoint and the receipt lands in your register.
The sponsor wall
The one banner we hang.
Everywhere else, a sponsor here is a guest in the space — on the featured list, in the room, on the map. This wall is the exception we make on purpose: the season’s backers, named where the season is announced. The seats are drawn empty until they’re taken. Every open seat is the ask.
Red Foundry
Prize pool sponsor · $300 seeded, split across both tracks · presented at Coding with Carl
Haven Cafe
The venue · home of all three checkpoints
OnlyLemon
Drink partner
Saved for you
Featured sponsor · the guest list + the room
The prize pool seat is Red Foundry’s — $300 seeded for the Demo Day awards, split evenly between the two tracks. The pool can still grow: add to it and be on stage as each award is given, or sponsor for visibility and join the featured-guest reveals. One door: me@gmcarl.xyz.
The build challenge
What could you build that brings people together?
One question, all season: what could you make that helps a community, a business, a creator, or a group of friends stay better connected? Two tracks: the GM Spaces Track — build for or with the platform — and the Custom Track — bring your own creation, any stack. Come alone or bring a team. Show up in September or discover us in November — there’s a door at every checkpoint.
Everything you need to enter is written down — the timeline, team rules, the submission spec, judging, what you keep.
★ GM Spaces Track — half the pool · one person or one team
◆ Custom Track · bring your own — half the pool · one person or one team
♥ The community votes — judging happens in the app
☕ → 🍸 → 💻 = THE SEASON ZERO PASS
Show up to all three and you don’t get a plastic badge — your own receipts are the badge. Open your register in the app: three checkpoints, three timestamps, one season. We didn’t build a feature for that. The receipts were already true.
The rules of the bet
Where the season talks.
The room, and the group chat beside it
Season 0 lives in GM Spaces and in one WhatsApp group — first word on events, drops, guests, and the numbers as they move.
Sponsors, two ways.
Open all season
Sponsor the prize pool and your support becomes the Demo Day awards — presented from the stage as each is given. Sponsor for visibility and you join the featured-guest list: in the room, on the map, not on a banner. Write me@gmcarl.xyz.
Featured guests, weekly.
Interesting people will be in the room
One reveal a week, all season — builders, creators, community leaders, each with a followable room in the app and an “ask me about” line. Watch the Dispatch.